Brought to Confession

09.12.05

Manasseh was an evil king, the evilest king Judah ever saw, rebuilding all the pagan idols his father Hezekiah destroyed. He worshipped the Canaanite gods, setting up altars for the Baals and making Asherim poles. He sacrificed his sons to the Ammonite god Molech in the valley of Ben-hinnom. He worshipped all the host of heaven, he sought the future through divination, and practiced witchcraft and sorcery. “He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.”¹ He also caused others to sin, misleading Judah to “do more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the sons of Israel.”²

The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, “I will abandon the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies… because they have done evil in My sight, and have been provoking Me to anger since the day their fathers came from Egypt.”³ But they paid no attention, so the LORD brought the Assyrian army against them, and they captured Manasseh and took him to Babylon.

“When he was in distress, he entreated the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.”⁴

The prayer of Manasseh is not contained in Scripture, which is likely due to the passage’s false presumption that the patriarchs were without sin. However, the text was popular enough that several copies were in existence. Reading from the Apocrypha reveals a heart that recognizes his sin, and pleads for God grace.⁵ He claims God as his own, and is expectant of God’s salvation and even that God’s goodness will be shown in him.⁶

“When he prayed to Him, [God] was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.”⁷ From then on, Manasseh begins offering sacrifices to the true God and removing the pagan practices and idols.

Manasseh’s story is the living out of Solomon’s dedication prayer:

“When they sin against You – for there is no one who does not sin – and You become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive … and if they have a change of heart … and repent and plead with You in the land of their captivity and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong and acted wickedly’; and if they turn back to You with all their heart and soul … hear their prayer and their pleas, and uphold their cause. And forgive Your people, who have sinned against You.”⁸

In Manasseh, God demonstrates His ability to redeem anyone. It is a powerful story of how God can turn a life around – any life. That is encouraging, to think that no sin of mine is too great for God’s forgiveness. It is also a reminder that no people are so lost that God doesn’t want us to reach out to them. “[God] devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from Him.”⁹

It is true that Manasseh would not have turned away from his sin if God had not brought some distress into his life. Manasseh had to become desperate before he became humble. He had to be removed from his throne. Now a captive, Manasseh had nothing to be proud of. God has interesting ways of making Himself known – sometimes He needs to take things away from us that would pull us away from God. For Manasseh, that’s a grande understatement – but something can seem “less wrong” and still come between our relationship with God.

One challenging passage comes over 30 years after Manasseh’s death. “[Manasseh] filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and the LORD would not forgive.”¹⁰ Even though God brought Manasseh back to Jerusalem, and used him for good, God’s judgement would still come against Judah, the people Manasseh had led astray. It’s sobering to think that God could choose not to forgive, yet He does forgive. Jesus paid the price for all our sins so the justice of God may be satisfied.